'Dn the author and the actors! the public come to see my scenery!'
1885. Punch, 7 March, p. 109. The knights of the pencil, Sir, hold that backers, like pike, are more ravenous in keen weather, and consequently easier to land.
1890. Daily Telegraph, 25 Feb. p. iv. col. 7. Meanwhile, every temptation is offered to the felonious tendencies of these knights of industry. Women parade the rooms with thousands of pounds' value of jewellery on their persons.
To be the guest of the cross-legged knights, verb. phr. (old).—To go dinnerless; to dine with duke Humphrey (q.v.); to dine (or sup) with Sir Thomas Gresham (q.v.). [In allusion to the stone effigies in the Round Church (Temple) at one time the rendez-vous of lawyers and their clients, who attracted a host of dinnerless vagabonds in the hope of picking up a job]. For synonyms see Peckham.
To be knighted in Bridewell, verb. phr. (old).—To be whipped in prison.
1592. Nashe, Pierce Penilesse [Grosart, ii. 57]. I knewe an odde foule-*mouthde knaue . . . that had . . . a backe so often knighted in Bridewell that it was impossible . . . to terrifie him from ill-speaking.
Knitting Needle, subs. phr. (military).—A
sword. For synonyms
see Cheese-toaster.
Knob, subs. (common).—1. The
head; the nob (q.v.). For synonyms
see Crumpet. One on the
knob = a blow on the head.—Grose
(1785).
2. (workmen's).—A knobstick (q.v.).
Knobby, adj. (common).—See
Nobby.
Knob-of-Suck, subs. phr. (provincial).—A
piece of sweetmeat.
1865. Good Words, Feb., p. 125. These children get an hour for dinner, and when they are 'very good' and work hard they sometimes get a knob-o'-suck on Saturday.
Knobstick (or Nobstick), subs.
(workmen's).—1. A non-society
hand; dung (q.v.); a rat (q.v.).
Also, one who takes work under
price, or continues at work while
his fellows are on strike. (2) A
master who does not pay his men
at market rates.
1851-61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. & Lond. Poor, iii. 220. I next went to work at a under-priced hatter's, termed a knobstick's.
1855. Mrs. Gaskell, North and South, ch. xxv. 'They would try and get speech o' th' knobsticks, and coax 'em, and reason wi 'em, and m'appen warn 'em off; but whatever came, the Committee charged all members o' th' Union to lie down and die, if need were, without striking a blow; and then they reckoned they were sure o' carrying th'public with them.'
1858. Notes and Queries, 1 S. ix. 373. In these days of strikes, turn-outs, and lock-outs we hear . . . much of knobsticks.
1860. Sir T. K. Shuttleworth, Scarsdale, ii. ch. ii. By picketing the mills, by assaults on knobsticks.
1887. Contemporary Rev., li. 238. The knobstick takes away the striker's hope of bringing his employer to terms.
1887. Daily Telegraph, 1 July, 5. 8. Hundreds of windows at Dobson and Barlow's foundry, in which are knobsticks, or 'importations', were broken.
1891. Pall Mall Gaz., 25 July, p. 2, col. 2. The fact must be borne in mind that this advocate of physical force as an argument with knobsticks is repudiated by the organization of his fellow-*workers.
